Accused China asset 'fabricated' Kevin Rudd reports for cash

Security and defence advice falsely claimed to have come from former prime minister Kevin Rudd was supplied to Chinese intelligence agents by an Australian businessman, a jury has heard.

Dr Rudd is expected to testify in the foreign interference trial of businessman Alexander Csergo, which began on Thursday.

Csergo, 59, has pleaded not guilty to one count of reckless foreign interference after providing reports to two people he believed were working for China’s Ministry of State Security.

The owner of IT consulting firm Conversys was living in Shanghai and working on data-sensitive telecoms projects relating to Chinese government strategy.

Jurors heard he communicated with two individuals - known as “Ken” and “Evelyn” - from when he was approached on LinkedIn in November 2021 until March 2023, a month after he returned to Australia.

The Australian believed Ken and Evelyn worked for Chinese intelligence and were “grooming” him to be a potential source, crown prosecutor Jennifer Single SC said.

In exchange for cash, he provided reports on topics including lithium and iron ore, the change in German government, the AUKUS security agreement and the Quad diplomatic partnership.

Csergo compiled this information from open-source material found online and included quotes from fake interviews he claimed to have conducted with a number of individuals, including Dr Rudd, the court was told.

The former prime minister and diplomat was expected to testify he did not talk to Csergo after the businessman contacted him and asked about Australian defence, AUKUS and the Quad, the prosecutor said.

“(Csergo) fabricated source material to lend feasibility to his reports and make him a more valuable asset,” Ms Single said.

When the businessman finished compiling each report, he would not send it by email.

Instead, he would hand over a printed version or digital file on a USB stick at in-person restaurant or cafe meetings, the jury heard.

“Often those restaurants and cafes were completely empty apart from the accused, Ken and Evelyn,” Ms Single said.

In early 2023, Ken provided Csergo with a “shopping list” of topics to research when he returned to Australia.

‘I have read your ‘shopping list’. I know what you are looking for,” Csergo told Ken on WeChat days before he flew out.

During a search warrant at the 59-year-old’s Bondi premises in March 2023, Australian Federal Police seized a document that was read out to the jury on Thursday.

In it, Ken asked for information about China-related issues in the Australian and US intelligence communities, defence and national security strategies on China, and China foreign policy.

He instructed Csergo to find contacts in the prime minister’s office, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and other law-enforcement bodies.

The AFP also seized his smartphone, laptop and other electronic devices, finding over 3,200 WeChat messages between the 59-year-old and his two alleged handlers.

Csergo told police he felt he had to work with Ken and Evelyn because he was under Chinese surveillance and could not leave the Asian nation due to COVID-19 lockdowns, the court was told.

His barrister Iain Todd argued his client made a commercial decision to provide the information for money.

“There are no secrets disclosed, no blueprints of military weapons or Australia’s military capabilities in any of those reports,” he told the jury.

The only deception was Csergo lying and passing off material written by others as his own to Ken and Evelyn, Mr Todd said.

The IT consultant also did nothing with the “shopping list”, the jury was told.

The trial continues.